Under 10s Match Reports
Sidmouth U10 Tour of Cornwall
Two mighty Cornish teams lined up as opposition for Sidmouth U10s inaugural tour of Cornwall.
Saturday shaped up clear and bright and Redruth organised the match to be played on their main pitch. Steeped in history and passion, the hallowed 'Hell Fire Corner' hosted our own latter day heroes and soon Sidmouth were playing a previously unwitnessed brand of drive, retain and recycle rugby that allowed them to dominate the red and blacks. Exemplary stuff that left the coaches briefly speechless !! Peaky and Scrivs breeched Redruth's defenses to put Sidmouth 2-0 up at half time with various other opportunities going begging. Josh Roberts has recently made a huge difference at scrum half with a combination of athleticism, speed of thought, sniping runs and a fast improving quality of service to the threes. A complete change of Sidmouth personnel at half time fought hard but allowed the red and blacks in for a couple tries of their own. 'Go forward' rugby must be played at all times and next season this can be another area to work on.
Game two saw Sidmouth completely dominate with fabulous performances from Josh Roberts, Ollie Jones (1 try), Louis Stamp (2 tries) and Finlay Morgan (1 try) . Jonesies bullocking try scored from end to end with a wickedly bruised hand demonstrating just how hard the lad is.
5-2 the eventual scorline with Harley Smith also scoring his 2nd try of the season.
Business taken care of the team switched to Gwithian beech for a Baltic surf lesson sponsored by WestExe Forklift's Mr. Alex Dix who also ventured out in his athletically cut wet suit ! Mr Dix suggested prewarning Greenpeace that no whales were likely to be beached in that area that afternoon so as to save them a call out !
That night the entertainment continued at the hotel with solo renditions of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Mr. Peacock senior and 'Green Army' by Mr. Peacock jnr. Mr Kennaugh yodelled drunkenly through the evening with little or no impact on his target audience and Mr Hushon had the girls swooning with a delicate and touching love song virtuoso.
Morning dawned and the Biblical weather flung bins down the street, ripped trees from their roots and the horizontal rain threatened hypothermia. This forced a cancellation of the final fixture against Cornish County champions Hayle due to a waterlogged pitch. However, we were aware that our previous day's demolition of their close rivals may have had them quake-ing !!
Well done to all who toured and especially to the fabulous support provided by parents. Thanks to Simon Rowe for organising the tour and Brad Jenkins of TJ contractors - the team's sponsor.
Squad :- Cole Monaghan. Max Dix, Alex Peacock, Finlay Johnson, Louis Stamp, Will Kennaugh, Ben Scrivens, Jack Marchant, Jack Jenkins, Finlay Morgan, Harley Smith, Ollie Jones, Sam Bond, Henry Thorn, Jamie Wyant, Jack Turbitt, Ben Hushon and Archie Rowe.
Sidmouth U10s at the Devon Rugby Festival
Sidmouth U10s at the Devon Rugby Festival at Devonport Services.
First up were Ivybridge and having lost to them 0-7 the week before, a 1-0 loss was a reasonable achievement. Next up were last year's finalists Kingsbridge and a 0-0 draw was frustrating for both teams. Jack Jenkins took the first two Cadbury's sponsored tackle of the match with a couple of corkers ! The last game was offering an early bath or the chance to move into the knock-out stages of the 3rd ranked Plate finals. South Molton took the pitch and a couple of 'Giant Haystacks' threatened a one sided game. However, Sidmouth's guile and running game took the mid Devon outfit apart and 4-0 was the final outcome in our favour. Josh Roberts (player of the tournament) regularly caught the eye with a masterful display in the ruck. His bravery and commitment in putting his body on the line was an inspiration to the rest of the team.
This set up a semi-final clash with hosts Devonport who duly surrendered 3-0 to Sidmouth who'd finally grasped what tournament rugby is about. Moving now into the main Devonport Stadium, Sidmouth kicked off the first of the 3 finals against Newton Abbott. Taking a battering in the first half Sid valiantly kept Newton out and returned the favour in the 2nd half. Will Kennaugh this time fronting the 'hard-man' tackle count. Will also came within inches of breaking the deadlock but at the final whistle a 0-0 result was decided on the toss of a coin. You guessed it, lady luck deserted us and Newton Abbott took the supreme accolades.
The squad to be congratulated were Joshie Roberts, Finlay Johnson, Jack Jenkins, Alex Peacock, Max Dix, Ben Hushon, Sam Bond, Cole Monaghan, Finlay Morgan, Louis Stamp, Will Kennaugh, Jamie Wyant & Ollie Jones.
Thanks to Brent & Brad and all the travelling supporters.
Kingsbridge U10 vs Sidmouth U10s
In the first match forwards Ben Hushon, Peaky and Fin Jonson had the edge and supplied plenty of ball to set the Sidmouth 3s alight. Stampy duly roared through the blue defence to open the scoring. Last year's beaten Devon Festival finalists soon came back and evened the scores. Will Kennaugh, having distributed the ball well from scrum half, then steamed over in inimitable fashion shortly followed by Finlay Morgan pouncing on a Kingsbridge fumble over their try line. Kennaugh again ripped through their defence from close in to add a fourth.
Final score 3-4.
The second match saw Jacob Spencer coming close to his first try only to be bundled out just short. Max Dix did extremely well to continue after head butting the ground ever so hard !
An end to end match ended in a 4-1 defeat for Sidmouth - probably a just result for the friendly South Devon team.
Sidmouth U10s v Collumpton U10s
By Craig Morgan
The green army marched to Collumpton last week in a howling Westerly and took on a well drilled opposition.
Sidmouth opened the scoring with Ollie Jones pouncing on a loose ball in Cullys try zone. But having levelled the score the opposition could only spectate as Ben Scrivens showed a clean pair of heels to notch up Sidmouth’s second. Another Cully equaliser saw the first match finish 2-2. In the second game Alex Peacock led by example to secure plenty of ball and go on several barnstorming runs. The team play was exemplary and was epitomised with a multi-phase attack. The ball moved through many pairs of hands before Ollie Jones again proved far too powerful and vigorous polishing the try off with a long run. Jamie Wyant chipped in with two trys for the team who ended up winning 4-2.
Sidmouth U10's v Exeter Chiefs U10's
Crumby result.
The Chiefs hosted Sidmouth on their rubber crumb pitch on Sunday 15th January 2012 and demonstrated their vast improvement. Our shy tackle count on the hard rubbery surface may have been the reason we shipped 7 trys but realistically its no excuse and Exeter were easily a match for our power and intensity. Our 3 trys came from Josh Roberts, Ben Scrivens and Ollie Jones.
The match of the morning, however, came from the development squad who broke free of their inhibitions and ran in 7 trys of their own to Exeter's 5. Archie Rowe has an uncanny knack of ghosting past players to score mesmerizing trys ( and superb goals - the day before on the footy pitch ) . His footwork and balance is breath-taking and would easily grace the 'Strictly' dance floor ! Jamie Wyant wasn't far behind with his yardage and carries. Both players scored. The Chiefs must have thought we were taking the Mick when our two prop-cum-wingers ( Henry 'Gentle Giant' Thorne and Jack 'The Beast' Marchant ) combined out wide to score the try of the century. Jonah Lomu wouldn't even have stopped them !! The other scorers were the hard charging Cole Monaghan and the 110% committed Harley Smith. Jack Jenkins and Ben Hushon combined well up front to secure plenty of ball and Jack Turbitt's service from scrum half warms the cockles of a coaches heart.
